Field of the Invention
This disclosure generally relates to loops and more specifically to execution of zero overheard loops in a computer processor.
Background Art
Executing loops results in overhead required to maintain the loop. Such overhead includes, for example, an instruction to decrement or increment a loop count, and an instruction to transfer program execution to a start of a loop body, and an instruction to exit the loop body. In conventional processors, these overhead instructions require additional clock cycles for execution.
The figures illustrate various components, their arrangements, and interconnections. Unless expressly stated to the contrary, the figures are not necessarily drawn to scale.